Unnnnggghhhh....

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taftonomos

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Welp, I think this might be the final straw with my and my display tank.

I bought the thing used here. I made a stand, canopy, a fairly nice CLS, plumbed it up, made it work, modified it, made it work better. It's been filled in the garage for about a week now. I was planning on bringing it inside the house and setting it up friday/sat.

I go out to the garage this morning to find a trail of water. Tank is 1" low. Yep, the **** thing is leaking somewhere on the lower right, water is dripping out of the lower trim.

Anyone want a leaky 75 tank, and a bunch of nice equipment to go with it? I'm so mad now, I could just light the whole thing on fire, cept it's inside my garage.
 
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Take a deep breath and walk away. Aren&#8217;t you happy you did a water test in the garage? </span>
</span>
 
My suggestion aside from draining it is to let it sit for a few days and reaccess. These set backs can be VERY frustrating but I find if I clear my mind of tank problems it gives me a chance to cool off and remember how much I enjoy this hobby when things are stable.

Sorry for the PIA factor. Hang in there.
 
Is it possible that something happened to the tank in transit? Don't know of anyone here who would deliberately sell a leaky tank. Everyone here is pretty up-front.

Can be fixed/sealed though and you'll still end up with an awesome display. If Sal can drain, reseal, cure, refill, reestablish his monster tank, a 75g shouldn't throw ya off course too terribly.

Nothing worth having comes easy.. You've invested a lot and are almost there!!!

Would love to see pics when you're done.
 
I know its quite frustrating but at least you learned something by water testing it in the garage. Drain it, let it dry throughly and grab a few tubes of 100% silicone and seal it like the dickens! Time spent now making sure its sealed will save you tons of pain later. Good luck and don't let this set back get you down.:up:
 
I'm not mad at all at the member I bought the tank from. It was pretty cheap for sure. I didn't realize someone had tried to reseal it before I got there. Obvious it's leaked in this corner before, it's got some black silicone gooped down there already. It's not the entire seam though, only about 4-5 inches in both directions, so thats probably the problem. I feel dumb, I should have just bought a new tank. Lesson learned I suppose.

It's had water in it for about 2 weeks now, and nigh a drop has leaked out. I'll drain it now, and take a good look at resealing the bottom I guess. My only worries are that it will do this again after I get it all set up. I've never sealed up or resealed a tank before. Do you have to actually take the entire tank apart? Or can you just remove the silicone on the inside seams, tape, silicone, and let dry?

Haninja, you bet. I've never done a water test like I had on this thing. I suppose I'm happy that I did at this point.

This darn thing has fought me the entire way, but I won't give up.
 
Sorry to hear that, I bought it used and had it resealed just as a precaution, Had it running for almost six years with no issues, I understand how frustrating it could be... If you want I have another 75 you can swap it out... I just have to clean it out. Shoot me a pm we will work the times out.
 
Drat!! I had that happen to me before,except I didn't test it.(long time ago) atleast it didn't drain in your house while you were at work
 
IMO, I would re-seal the whole tank. The seep could be coming from somewhere higher or down on of the sides. You never know where it's coming from so to be safe I'd seal all the seams again. I would just be very liberal with the silcone and apply it over the old silicone. SOme would suggest removing the old silicone but I personally think you'll have a better chance by leaving it. Good luck!
 
flyingarmy;108890 wrote: IMO, I would re-seal the whole tank. The seep could be coming from somewhere higher or down on of the sides. You never know where it's coming from so to be safe I'd seal all the seams again. I would just be very liberal with the silcone and apply it over the old silicone. SOme would suggest removing the old silicone but I personally think you'll have a better chance by leaving it. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Would this be recommended as a precaution for any used tank?
 
Personally, I would in fact remove all old silicone from inside the tank, clean it real well with a razor blade and de-natured alchohol, then reseal it with 100% silicone. This will be sure all leak possibilities are covered...
 
The tank has already been re-sealed. I just finished draining it, and I started picking the "re-sealed" silicone off. It didn't bond at all with the original stuff.

I've heard of putting a piece of foam or rubber mat under acrylic tanks. Maybe my stand isn't perfectly flat, and somehow I tweaked the tank?

Can I use a piece of foam under it, or is that a no-no with glass tanks?

Should the resealed silicone actually bond with the old stuff? I'm assuming I need to put a large enough bead on there to bond on the glass (it's on the bottom, and the tank will have some sand in it, so looks I don't care about down there.
 
What happened to Dammmiiitttt? I definitely think this is a Dammmittt...situation!:boo:
 
That's what I was wondering...sorry for so many posts today..bored out in the middle of 1500 acres..I would blob the new silly cone on..use tons of it.. Won't hurt anything I don't guess
 
http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/356/356865/folders/273167/22564492256448bs130.gif" alt="" />


actually... I'm guessing a mod did it @ the member's request.

:)
 
Do yourself a favor and cut out all the old Silicone with a razor knife. Then Reseal the tank you should not have any problems. Let the silicone cure for atleast a week. Has worked well on 2-120 gallons that I have had. As far as the Foam is concerned,I would not use it on a glass tank with plastic trim.
 
yes you definately want to make sure you take out all the old silcone. If for any reason any kind of oil gets on the old silicone and you reseal it, it wont hold all that well. Razor blade it out, then get some alachol in there and throughly wipe all the corners and edges. get some new silicone and start putting it on the tank. use your finger (with gloves on) and press your finger into the crack and run it up to the top and along the sides. Do this so it helps push the silicone into the cracks. After you do that you can either run another bead of silicone and redo the same step or let it dry then add another coat. I've resealed a few tanks and have never had any issues. Its much more rewarding doing that and seeing it no leak once youre done rather then getting another tank....atleast i think so. Dont forget, even tho we are aquarists, were also carpenters, plumbers, electricians and many other things in order to keep up with our hobby :)
 
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